If Ray doesn't know why Minx is at attention he needs a looong lesson in what a model 4's pleasure receptors can do.

If Calli is drinking to get drunk then Mira is the only message that was sent, or Evil-1 intercepted all the rest. You know in a quick retrospect Centcomm has to be aware of Calli's drinking problem and if she isn't keeping Calli busy and off the sauce then it would seem self evident she feels a Drunken Calli Taylor who doesn't know her potential and a dead Lynn Taylor plays right into her plans for eternal power. With Silver ready to supplant Taylor anyway she has her maintenance issues solved and can let Calli drink herself to death with no one in the Taylor gene pool to ever rein her in.

Something that nags me, is that Calliope is constantly beind portayed as incapable and overly emotional, almost to the point of being able to do even the tinyest of things.

However, one of the reasons that Dr Silver complains about her, is because she always get the fame - And I doubt she'd get all that fame *only* on her good name - There has to be an intelligent person underneath that fragile looking surface, and intelligent persons are almost always better informed and connected than you want them to be if they're your opponents.

Methinks some of this impression of fragility might be a carefully constructed illusion and that she's a lot more devious and hardened than she lets on.
After all, she used to romp around in the wastes with her husband and a band of mercenaries - Not exactly the usual thing that fragile little ladies do.
And I wonder, wouldn't she still have connections to those mercenaries ?

The thing you have to take into account is that conflict, gains and losses in Calli's occupational world are one thing, conflict, gains and losses experience in Calli's familial world are several orders of magnitude different. And it is a damn good thing they are or Calli would come off as insensitive as Vinnie. All cause and effect with no concern for inconsequentials.

I can't say your entirely wrong Sheela. I think you are failing to realize how much her husband's loss hit her though.

I too think Calliope is an attractive, extremely capable, incredibly intelligent but emotionally shattered young woman. Remember she watched the man she loved die in front of her.

I've got a friend that had that happen to. It wasn't by violence, but still the parallel is there. She hunts, kills, dresses and hauls her own deer. She has raised her 3 daughters. She is NOT a weak individual.

When her husband dropped dead in the fishing boat 3 miles from the car, she managed to get back to shore, summon help (which was sadly FAR too late) and then she... broke. It has been 5 years, she can still do amazing things, but then something will remind her of her loss... and she can just fall apart. Losing a loved one that traumatically, most people can't even begin to imagine what it is like.

Sometimes it hits the most capable people the hardest. They are so used to being able to handle things... and then something happens that they COULDN'T prevent... it hits them so hard they are lost. Sometimes for years, sometimes forever. So I don't think it is an illusion at all, Sheela.

Calliope had put her life kind of back together and now she has lost her daughter, may never get her back. For all her abilities, all her intelligence, Calliope didn't prevent it. Intelligent people can be very good at punishing themselves after the fact for things they didn't (and probably never could) see coming.

What I'm trying to get at, is that sure enough, she could have been hit hard and all, and still be sneaky enough to pretend she was hit harder than she was, thus making her enemies lower their guard, which in turn lets her get revenge.

Nothing sweeter than revenge on the people who took her daughter away.
Nothing more important than to get the upper hand on them, so she can get her daughter back.

As for experiencing loss, I've been there myself ... woodchipper ... lots of blood, lost limb - He survived, but, it was bad.

Also remember, she allowed Lynn to talk her into issuing her a special driving pass before she was old enough to hold one. This meant Lynn could go to her boyfriends by herself and had no guardian when the gutters struck.

Yeah, but realistically... I mean did Calliope make a bad decision? She wanted Lynn to grow up, become an independent young woman.

The trip should have been trivial (would however made for a VERY boring comic), but it wasn't... NOW Calliope is beating herself up for it. And remembering all the mistakes she has ever made and all the losses she has suffered... :-7

So does that decision make her a bad mother or a a good one with stronger enemies than she realized?

Everyone can have a different opinion on that, and ultimately all the other opinions matter for nothing. It is her opinion that is haunting her right now.

Colliope Taylor is very OCD about her work and very miticulous in her research cent says - i want THIS modified to do this and Calli will do it. remember one of the things Lynn said was that Calli was constantly working and that Dolly was boring.. now truth be told Dolly isnt a boreing person,. She has not taken Lynn out of the city but Dolly made sure she got self defense classes and other skills. dispite apperances Lynn is a very capable Young lady. and Dolly has done her best to bring that forward.

Opinion time... again! Minx has been one really out of touch with the good luck vibes. My thoughts are that- as this story unfolds she will find her center and shrug off the Jinx she has been suffering with since she sparked. She will do something(s) that will finally ground her to be able to accomplish that end. <Opinion over>

That was a left over displacement map - its fixed later on - its actually a hexigonal pattern - after all Ray does not have skin - its just a light plastic coating over the duraplast that covers 90 percent of him :D

I'm in agreement with Kanela so far, I think the "new" Minx turned out well, but something got lost in the translation of Ray ... though it could be the shadows making merry with him - So I reckon I'll hold "final judgement" until we can see him properly. :)

Gives CentComm a gun, and 10,000 rounds of ammo plus 3D targets of Douchebag, Creepy Priest Guy, Gavin (yeah, I know he is dead, but I want him to suffer some more) and Marcus (you KNOW he deserves it :-D)...

"Now get out there and I want more HITS than misses on these guys, got it?" :-D "Keep practicing until you get it right!"

Any idea on how much time has elapsed since Lynn's kidnapping? We've been bouncing between characters enough that I'm unclear on that. Couple of weeks? A month? I ask because The Douchebag doesn't strike me as possessing a whole lot of patience.

And Prince Douchebag is also nursing some serious bruises I think. Max chastised him for trying to rape his half sister. :-p So he has other issues to keep his mind occupied for a little while at least. I wish Max had put him in the body and fender shop, permanently (I think the contingencies might be a dead letter if he was in a coma). Hard to arrange though without going too far.

Dpuchy is busy plotting revenge against Max, Acantha and Lynn and with two of them out of reach he won't be swift to act.
I do wonder what will happen when and if Douchy orders Kali to take out Max and assume control of the Praetorian Guard. Will she consider it an Imperial Order that must be followed or consider it will harm Nova Rome and therefore cannot fulfil the order.?

Max and Kali are going to TRY to keep him busy and distracted. Nova Roma has a VERY good reason to kidnap Lynn besides Drek being a jackass and that reason is the ONLY reason that Maxus hasnt sent Lynn back with a honor guard, there is a lot of things at work here.

Actually, Kali could *not* assume command of the military in Maxus's place. She's an android. There's a downside to legalizing and institutionalizing prejudice--not only is it unlawful to put an android in that command role, but the military simply would not accept her authority.

Dear Creative Management Team;
I am very impressed by your latest asymmetrical and unexpected Plot Trajectory Adjustment!
All you did was go inside and up a few floors, and just look at the Comments Nest you stirred up!
Impressive indeed!